Role Models

Written by Christy Whitman April 3, 2012

Our nanny was at the playground with the boys yesterday. They were sitting side by side, playing in the sand. Alex is not even 3 years old, and Maxim is a year and a half. They were playing with their trucks and digging and really enjoying themselves. A mother came by with her two small children, and they wanted to play in the sandbox. The mother told them “no” because they can’t sit in the sand and play together nicely. She told her children to look at the two little boys playing nicely together (Alex and Maxim) and said, “If you can play nicely like those two boys, you can play together in the sand. But you two are always fighting, and you would be throwing sand at each other. I can’t bring you in the sandbox together because you would end up in a fight.” Our two boys who are both under age 3 were an example of how to play and respect one another. They are role models for other children.

Our children do fight with each other, take toys away from one another, and compete for our attention. But we always tell them that they are abundant and that they have all they need. We also tell them all the time, “Your brother is your best friend for life. You need to love him, not hurt him.” It obviously got in somewhere.